The car goes where the eyes go

The car goes where the eyes go. Ponder this for a moment. What do I mean? Better yet, what does Garth Stein mean? He penned it - in his most amazing book 'The Art of Driving in the Rain'. I will gush over this book for just a moment. http://www.garthstein.com/news/index.php#26

I picked it up with about 8 other books in the airport shop on my last return trip home from the States. It was all random/impulse purchases. One book I wanted but the others were in the top 20 or 40 or whatever. Their titles or covers or subject caught my eye and on a whim I whittled away at the already non-existent space on my book shelf. Three Cups of Tea, Turtle Feet, The Art of Running in the Rain, Animals in Translation, In Defense of Food, Who's Your City are the ones I have read or am reading now. I have greatly enjoyed my random wandering through peoples' stories, experiences, thoughts and ideas. I seem to enjoy fact more than fiction however The Art of Running in the Rain has taken the pole position in this race.

It's fiction but it speaks volumes about life and it's journey. Our choices, or struggles, where we want to be, were we find ourselves and how determined are we to be true to ourselves? The car goes where the eyes go. This has stuck with me. One of many fantastic quotes in this book. But this one. It spoke to ME. It made me think - where have my eyes been looking? Where am I leading myself? What the hell is going on here? My eyes have been looking down at the floor, or only a few feet ahead. Looking at my daughter, staring into space. Looking at too many futures and not one future that speaks to me. I let my goals and aspirations fade. They have lost air like an old balloon and now they are just shrunken shapes of their former full selves. If my eyes are looking nowhere then that is where I am going. If the eyes give up, so does the car.

The beauty and humour in this book, the pain and the 'stick it to the man' attitude. The mountains this story must climb, it always knows where it is going. For people who love dogs (or even people who don't), for people who cheer for the underdog, for people who love a smooth and fast entertaining read, for people who want a love story (people who love and dogs who love), this is the book for you. Not once did the language of the author stop me or leave me thinking I would have said that differently. His characters are true down to their very core. Their voices (including the dog's for this book is told from the view point of the dog) bring alive their character. Who won't fall in love with Enzo? Who won't want to go up and hug Danny? And the other characters with their human flaws and good intentions? Warning: tissues are needed.

I asked my husband the other day what his favourite book was - The Right Stuff. He's read it three times. I couldn't think of one book and I don't think I have ever re-read a book. But I think I will read The Art of Running in the Rain again. It is a fantastic story and if I had thought of it, I would like to think I would have written it just as well.

So, where are the eyes now? They are looking. Looking at a future that makes me happy, that pulls me forward, that makes sense to who I am and what I want to do, what I feel I was meant to do. And everyone around me will benefit from the car, OUR car going in the RIGHT direction. Just to get the eyes looking - otherwise the car just sits and that's a damn shame.

later taters x